Morris column brings back memories

Ron Morris’ column on basketball lingo took me back to Milwaukee, my hometown, in the mid-70s when I owned a small company that printed and distributed the Milwaukee Bucks press releases in the days before the Internet. The Bucks were emerging as a big deal in the NBA, and made even more exciting because of their great radio announcer, Eddie Doucette.

He coined many phrases back then, including but not limited to: “The Land of the Giants” (The Paint), “King” Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s “Rainbow Jumper” and “Riding the Pines” (bench warmers).

He had great nicknames for the players, “Big O” Oscar Robinson, “Gentleman” John McGlocklin, and “The Greyhound” Bob Dandridge, who shot a “pancake jumper,” “Bango” the mascot for the Bucks, and “The Toaster” to which I don’t recall a definition, but think it may refer to the lane.

Doucette is alive and well and will be inducted into the Broadcasting wing in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September.

Peter Driscoll

Columbia